First Attempt
First Attempt
Laughing, Will replied, "I thought you would be interested. I was just as angry as you when I found out that he made your job so difficult. You pulled it off amazingly, though. Already, the positive buzz is generating leads for our technology, so there's talk of making your position permanent. Only talk, though: it'll still take time for anything concrete to happen. Anyway, it's one of these 6 people."
Saying so, Will took out files from the compartment in front of him before throwing them to Liz.
They were sitting on the two opposite chairs in the drawing room, so there was quite some distance between them.
Still, Liz caught the folder expertly and took out the files to start reading about them.
After a few minutes, she was thoroughly flummoxed.
Seeing her expression, Will sighed and said, "I know. None of them stand out- they all have normal backgrounds with no relation to you. I'm still in the process of having the police records and records of other sources drawn up. But as of now, there's no clear motive for one of them to risk their job just to bring you down."
Liz nodded before looking out the window to see the land which was quickly approaching them.
They were making their final descent, but it was very smooth, almost as if she were in a simulation of a flight instead of actually being in a plane.
Just as Will had said, there was no distinctive information about any of the 'suspects' to identify them.
The risk was just too big: if the culprit was caught, losing their job would be the least of their worries.
Happle, with its veritable war chest of funds and army of lawyers, would make sure to sue that person to an eternity in prison for engaging in corporate espionage.
Risking that just to give Liz a hard time…yes, it didn't make sense at all, unless that person had some personal grudge.
That was why Liz was so befuddled. Throughout her life, before she got employed in Happle, although she had offended many people, none of them were powerful enough to worry about.
Shaking her head, Liz decided that she would do everything she could in order to uncover the criminal, even though it had just gotten a lot harder.
After the stop which was in California, the plane traveled to two other states in the US before finally setting off to their final destination: Argentina.
Will had buried himself in some paperwork, and Liz was equally busy, juggling both her jobs as his PA and as the Director of Operations.
The plane was fitted with super fast wifi, so work was no trouble; the only thing that did stress Liz was just the amount of work there was.
Will had offered to have someone else take care of the PA work, but Liz had insisted that she wanted to do it until they found someone else who was capable enough. She didn't want him to face difficulties just because she had gotten a new job.
Finally, a few hours later, the plane started to descend for the last time, while Liz felt her stomach growling.
Will seemed to hear it, or gather it from her face, as he said, "First thing we'll do after landing is grab some lunch. I know this excellent restaurant-"
"No. First, I want to meet all 6 of them. You said they don't know that I'm coming right?"
"Yes…I scrubbed your name from the manifest to surprise them and hopefully find some clues from their reaction. You sure you don't want to grab a bite first?"
Ignoring her complaining stomach, Liz said, "Yep. We can just go eat later."
She was quite fixated on this man or woman who had it out for her, and right now, it felt as if finding out their identity had become an itch that Liz couldn't scratch. In other words, it was nothing but infuriating to the extreme.
Nodding and smiling with the corner of his mouth, Will looked out the window, too, while Liz started to plan what she was going to say in order to elicit the largest response.
20 minutes later, Liz took a deep breath as she prepared herself.
They had gotten off the plane discreetly after everyone had left, after which they had been driven to the grandest hotel around: The Four Seasons Hotel Buenos Ares.
Getting off the car, Will led Liz to a meeting room, inside which he had called those 6 suspects.
The moment she stepped in, Liz said in a drawling voice, "Will, why should I meet these people when I'm going to become their boss later, anyway? I can just order them to tell me about themselves then…"
She had made her voice more high-pitched, and she had put on a haughty expression.
In all senses, she looked like a spoiled woman who was just looking forward to boss the men in the room around.
After thinking for a while, Liz had decided that the best plan might be the safest one: it was safe to assume that whoever the culprit, their motive must be that they were very angry to see Liz get something she didn't 'deserve'. For them to take such a risk, they would mostly be feeling about it very, very strongly.
So, making them come face to face with what they hate so much should elicit a much greater reaction than the others, which would be a clear sign.
Hell, even Will was quite startled by her perfect acting, making him wonder where she had picked this skill up.
Liz's plan had been quite well thought-out, but when she turned around to see the room while attentively looking out for any clues, she realized the problem.
All of the 6 men showed very intense reactions, with some putting on disgusted expressions while others turned away as if they had seen something vile and filthy.
Oh, yes. All the suspects hated her, and that was kind of one of the reasons that they had become suspects in the first place.
Seeing her plan fail, Liz cursed inwardly while something became clear to her.
This was going to be very, very hard.